Social class affects an individual`s level of political engagement
In this blog, I will illustrate the distinct difference between different social classes when it comes to political engagement. I will mainly focus on voting levels in election between social classes. Furthermore, the blog will attempt to offer an explanation to why there is a difference in turnout between these social classes.
Since the blog will focus on social class, it is essential to define what social class is in order to provide a bit of understanding of the topic. Erik Olin Wright (2003) defined social class as social groups in society whom share subjective salient attributes used by people to rank them within a system of economic stratification. In the United Kingdom, there are six social classes as shown in figure 1, majority of the population falls under three social classes, these are B, C1 and C2.
Figure 1 table shows social classes in the United Kingdom. Data was provided by Ipsos MIRO (2009).
It has been illustrated by figure 1 that there are six classes in the United Kingdom, therefore, what is the turnout difference between these social classes in election? Turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election (tutor2u, 2018).
Figure 2 below shows that there is a clear difference in turnout between social grades AB and DE, AB had a higher turnout compared to DE. This is a significant finding because it suggests that DE have no chance of their voice being heard. The reason for this claim is that as illustrated in figure 1 AB makes up 27% of the population, whereas DE makes up 23%. Therefore, AB having a higher turnout than DE means the party majority of AB voted for are more likely to win the Election. The 2015 general election provides further evidence for this claim, Ipsos MIRO (2015) reported that 75% of AB voted for Conservative whereas, 57% of DE voted Labour and the winning party was Conservative. Similar results are found in 2017 general election, Ipsos MIRO(2017) reported that 69% of AB voted for Conservative, whereas, 53% of DE voted for Labour and again the Conservative party won.
In addition, figure 2 shows that those from the social grade C2 and DE are less likely to vote than those in social grade AB and C1. This suggests that the lower an individual`s social grade is, the less likely he would engage in election compared to if he was from a higher social grade
Figure 2 graph shows results from 2015 general election turnouts by social class. Data provided by Ipsos MORI (2015)
Furthermore, the claim that the lower an individual`s social grade is, the less likely he would engage in election compared to if he was off a higher social grade is further supported by turnout in European Union Referendum. Ipsos MORI (2016) reported that, AB had a turnout of 79% and C1 had a turnout of 75%. However, C2 had a turnout of 70% and DE had a turnout of 65%. These findings therefore highlight that people of higher social class are more likely to participate in election than those of lower social class.
It has been established above that there is a difference in turnout between social classes but why is there such a difference in how classes vote?
Verbal et al. (1995) argued that there are many factors that contribute to people of lower class voting less. Verbal et al. (1995) stated one factor is that people of lower class do not have the time to invest in politics and another factor is that they do not have interest towards politics. These two factors go hand in hand, people of lower class spend so much time working and trying to gain financial stability that they hardly have time to follow politics. This then leads them to be disinterested in politics as they prioritise trying to get financial stability over learning and engaging in politics. This explanation gives insight to why my family lack political engagement. Looking at figure 1 social grades, my family would be under C2 social grade. Thus, in a C2 single parent household, my father works 11 hours, six days a week while me and my sister are busy with education. We hardly have time to spend quality time as a family because of our busy schedules so how can we have time for politics?
To conclude, social class does affect an individual`s level of political engagement as people of lower social class are less likely to vote compared to those of higher social class. The reasons for this occurrence is that people of lower class do not have time or interest in politics.
References
Ipsos MORI. (2009). Social Grade: A Classification Tool. Available: https://www.ipsos-mori.com/DownloadPublication/1285_MediaCT_thoughtpiece_Social_Grade_July09_V3_WEB.pdf. [ Accessed 4th March 2018].
Ipsos MORI. (2015). How Britain Voted in 2015. Available: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2015?view=wide . [ Accessed 4th March 2018].
Ipsos MORI (2016) How Britain Voted in 2016 EU Referendum. Available: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2016-eu-referendum. [Accessed 4th March 2018].
Ipsos MIRO (2017). How Britain voted in 2017 election. Available: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2017-election . [ Accessed 4th March 2018].
Tutor2u. (2018). Turnout | tutor2u Politics. [online] Available at: https://www.tutor2u.net/politics/reference/turnout . [Accessed 4 Mar. 2018].
Verba, S., Brady, H. and Schlozman, K. (2002). Voice and equality. 4th ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wright, E, O. (2003). Social Class, retrieved march 4th , 2018 , From https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/Social%20Class%20–%20Sage.pdf.